Eelco van den Berg is an illustrator, painter and graffiti artist based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He can often be found freaking out in the studio with Adobe Illustrator or outdoors with spraypaint and latex. Eelco’s work stands out in its strong use of colours and outlines, combined with highly decorative elements. His portfolio illustrates the diversity of his work and clientele, ranging from Bacardi to the fashion trade show Bread and Butter.

Intro

In this tutorial, Eelco van den Berg lets you behind the curtain to see how he creates his incredible vector portraits by turning a photo into a ‘poppy’ vector illustration.

You will learn quick and easy Photoshop adjustments that prepare artwork for translation into vector shapes. He shows you how to trace the basic shapes using the main tools in Illustrator, and how to use layers to organise the photos and your new vector artwork.

You will discover how to create the feeling of light and shadow, build a simple brush to work with and use the Pen tool for more geometrical shapes. You’ll also discover the possibilities of the Pathfinder tool, and how to draw with the brush to create a looser feel. We’ll also show you how to play around with elements of the portrait to build up the background and how to use a simple raster to give it some texture.

Time to complete

3-4 hours

Software

Adobe Photoshop CS3 or higher, Adobe Illustrator CS3 or higher

Project Files

Step 1

In Photoshop, open photo.jpg from the project files and select Duplicate Layer from the menu in the Layers panel. Use Cmd/Ctrl + L to bring up the Levels dialog, then use the middle slider to make the new layer a bit lighter, so the subject stands out better from the background.

Project Files

Step 2

In the Brushes panel, select New Brush. Select New Calligraphic Brush and click OK. Rename it Basic Brush and set the Diameter to 1 and the angle to 0°. Choose Cmd/Ctrl + B to activate the brush, using black for the stroke colour and no fill.

Step 3

Make sure the shapes are joined (using Cmd/Ctrl + J). Now you can start filling them, using the Eyedropper tool to pick colours from the ‘Posterize’ layer (you may also want to store them in the Swatches panel). If some shapes overlap, copy and select the shapes that need to be divided, then go to the Pathfinder panel (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + F9) and hit the Divide button. Ungroup them (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + G) and delete the parts you don’t need. Remember to Group them again afterwards (Cmd/Ctrl + G).

Step 4

Create a new layer called ‘Background’ and draw a rectangle the size of the document; I’ve made mine dark blue to make the face stand out more. Also draw some simple liquid shapes with the Basic Brush to make the composition more dynamic.

Open the raster.eps file and place the object over the green cap. Select both cap and raster element, duplicate them and drag the result beyond the document edge. Bring it to the front (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + }) with the raster over the cap. Hit the Crop button in the Pathfinder panel. Align the result over the first raster element (use Smart Guides to help you), then delete the first element. Now you have a rasterised fill giving the cap more texture.

Step 5

I want to add more detail to the scarf, which should make the rest more abstract. First, reduce the scarf area to just blue and black by deleting some things you’ve drawn. Now use the Basic Brush to create a stripe pattern using colours from the Swatches panel, then use the Pathfinder panel’s Divide tool to fit the shape in the scarf. Next, draw a shape with your brush to suggest shadow. Open the Transparency panel (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + F10) and select a Multiply blending mode with an opacity of 30%. Do the same for the background and clothing.

Step 6

Delete the ‘Mask’ layer and the layers you brought in from Photoshop. In the Layers panel menu, select Flatten Artwork. Select all your elements (Cmd/Ctrl + A) and group them (Cmd/Ctrl + G). Drag a rectangle precisely over your artboard and make sure it is on top of your grouped artwork. Select all again (Cmd/Ctrl + A) and hit Cmd/Ctrl + 7. Now you’ve made a clipping mask of your work, showing only what is within the artboard. Your vector portrait is now complete.